In the early 1960's Henry Ford II attempted to buy out Ferrari. Ferrari pulled out at the last minute, and in response Ford decided to build a car that could beat Ferrari. In August of 1963 Henry Ford II officially announced that he would build a race car to compete in endurance races such as the 24 Hours of LeMans. Ford used a branch of their company, Ford Advanced Vehicles, Ltd in England to build the car. The first prototype was first shown to the press in March of 1964 in Slough, England. The car was later flown to America for inspection by Ford and then flown back to England for further construction.

One of the most celebrated moments in Ford’s racing history came in the summer of 1966 when the company’s GT40 race car captured a 1-2-3 win at the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race, fulfilling Henry Ford II’s desire to beat Ferrari.

So many knowledgeable people do articles on these cars and don't seem to realize that there is no such thing as a GT40. It is simply a Ford GT. You won't see GT40 on any real GT. Check all of the vintage pictures, or data plates you can find. That was never a designation on anything official. Caroll Shelby stated this fact many times in public, as in this video; http://www.oninnovation.com/videos/detail.aspx?video=1280&title=A.+J.+Foyt+and+Dan+Gurney's+1967+LeMans+Win